Tea was first introduced to the coffeehouses of Britain in 1659, and after only a year, one could find chocolate, coffee, and tea sold on almost every street corner. Initially tea was consumed by just the wealthy because of it high price and tax. In 1662, after the marriage of King Charles II and Portuguese Queen Catherine of Braganza, Catherine introduced the act of tea drinking as a fashionable upper class luxury. The wealthy desired tea to demonstrate their class and status, so the demand of the product rose. The English East India Company began importing large amounts of tea from China.
Tea was much too expensive for the middle and lower classes. The monopoly the East India Company held on tea and the hefty taxes it was charged kept prices very high. However, in order to reach a wider market, tea smuggling became a lucrative black market business. Merchants, unconcerned about breaking the law, would secretly bring shipments of tea from China to Britain without passing through customs. They were able to avoid massive profit deductions from British taxes and therefore sell their goods for much less. Throughout the eighteenth century tea smuggling flourished in Britain. Smugglers had the support of millions of citizens who could not afford the normal price of tea. Additionally the government’s need to fund several wars only increased taxes, and in turn brought tea smugglers even more buyers. The end of tea smuggling came in 1784 after the Communication Act was passed by newly elected Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. In one night this act reduced the tax on tea from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Tea smugglers could not compete with the now cheap and legal tea that was available to the general public. Their businesses were decimated.
Tea was much too expensive for the middle and lower classes. The monopoly the East India Company held on tea and the hefty taxes it was charged kept prices very high. However, in order to reach a wider market, tea smuggling became a lucrative black market business. Merchants, unconcerned about breaking the law, would secretly bring shipments of tea from China to Britain without passing through customs. They were able to avoid massive profit deductions from British taxes and therefore sell their goods for much less. Throughout the eighteenth century tea smuggling flourished in Britain. Smugglers had the support of millions of citizens who could not afford the normal price of tea. Additionally the government’s need to fund several wars only increased taxes, and in turn brought tea smugglers even more buyers. The end of tea smuggling came in 1784 after the Communication Act was passed by newly elected Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. In one night this act reduced the tax on tea from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Tea smugglers could not compete with the now cheap and legal tea that was available to the general public. Their businesses were decimated.